My name is Mike Sanderson, I came to New College in 1999 from Miami Palmetto Senior High School, where I was on the nationally-competitive Miami Palmetto Debate Team. As it’s difficult to make a complete thought in sixty seconds, I have submitted my full comment and posted it to mikesand.com.
I asked to speak today about the New College Mascot. There are several serious contenders:
The Snowflakes
The New College of Florida Snowflakes is just so perfect; Snowflakes having defeated Napoleon in Russia in 1812, and Snowflakes fought on the side of the Soviet Union with the Allies against the Nazis in World War II.
The Empty Set
The New College of Florida Empty Set has served us well. If you don’t know, this came about because when the New College Student Alliance constitution was prepared, it was adapted from a template and the brackets were a placeholder where the mascot would go. A placeholder in an official document just to get it out the door -- a placeholder in an official governing document, no less -- is actually the perfect mascot for New College, and this board
The Hostile Takeover
This brings us to the agenda item in the packet, which as I prepare this comment, is not even revealed -- there was only a single survey, open only to students, apparently not secured, and including a mascot already in use in the Sun conference.
Whatever the mascot announced today is, this will be the mascot of a hostile takeover.
Bringing in athletes sounds great, and in contrast to the early Christian ideas of neglecting the body for the elevation of the spiritual, it indeed would be a Classical renaissance for New College to emphasize both vigorous body and mind. New College current students, alumni, faculty and boosters are not against bringing sports, and I still remain optimistic that many of your goals are compatible with preserving New College’s traditional mission, which continues to have broad political support in Florida and nationally.
Intercollegiate athletics are supposed to bring unity, character, celebration, leadership, integrity and fair play. This new administration is bringing none of that. That’s why I’ve started a petition to oppose New College’s application to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.
Everything over the past 5 months has been a repudiation of everything the NAIA says joining their organization will bring to campus. As long as this hostile takeover continues, intercollegiate athletics at New College will be represented by an empty set [ ].
New College of Florida NAIA sports offered, June 1, 2023, complete list: [ ]
